Doorman's half-century of stars ends

A doorman who has welcomed stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne and Omar Sharif into his hotel has brought his star-studded career to an end.

Ted Whitcombe has retired from The Dorchester after 50 years, having had what he described as the "best job in the world".

He told the Daily Mail: "I began working here in 1959 during the heyday of The Dorchester. Film stars were real film stars back then. I've seen Elizabeth Taylor, who was always one of my favorites, walk into the hotel with six different husbands.

"There were so many other guests that I admired and who were always pleasant such as John Wayne, Omar Sharif, Julie Andrews and Peter Sellers - who always kept us in fits. Charlton Heston was a regular. He would walk around the hotel with his shorts on and make the ladies swoon."

The 65-year-old said Luciano Pavarotti was another memorable guest, explaining: "He was a lovely man. What people don't know is that his girth was so big he broke a chair in his suite soon after he arrived."

Whitcombe, who today attended a special party in his honor at the London hotel, also revealed that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin were once asked to leave because they were "misbehaving with women in the corridors".